Michael Church
Michael Church is a music critic for The Independent, and also an ethnomusicologist. He has made reports on traditional music from every continent for the BBC World Service, and is World-music Critic for BBC Music Magazine and The Scotsman. In 2004, Topic Records released a Cd of his Kazakh field recordings, 'Songs from the Steppes: Kazakh music today', and in 2007 two further CDs of his recordings: 'Songs of Defiance: The Music of Chechnya and the North Caucasus', and 'Songs of Survival: Traditional Music of Georgia', both of which have won awards. He is currently editing a book about the world’s great musical traditions. For 15 years he combined the posts of Television Critic of The Times and Literary Editor of the Times Educational Supplement, and was also a panel-member of the Arts Council. He was the founding Arts Editor of The Independent on Sunday, and is a former Features Editor of The Independent, for whom he now reviews books, concerts, and opera, and contributes major articles.